îmbrăca

Forms

îmbrăca (third-person singular present îmbracă, past participle îmbrăcat, third-person subjunctive îmbrace), first conjugation^[1] Old texts also spell it înbrăca.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *imbrācāre (“to put on trousers”), formed on Latin brāca (“trousers, breeches”).^[3][2][4][1] DER cites Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, the REW and the DA for this etymon.^[3][5] The Latin noun was of Gaulish origin, and the adjective brācātus meant “wearing trousers”.^[6][7] Tiktin likewise connects the verb with these two Latin words.^[8]

The REW lists the Romance verbs of the same origin: Italian imbracare “to put on swaddling clothes”, French embrayer and Occitan embragar.^[5] DER notes that the DA starts from the Italian sense “to wrap in swaddling clothes” rather than from “to put on trousers”.^[3] The opposite verb dezbrăca “to undress” is derived in Romanian according to DER, while Candrea–Densusianu took it straight from Latin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, as îmbrace (Psalm 108:28), with the sense “to clothe, cover”.^[9] Tiktin's first record dates from 1551–1553, at Matthew 6:25, and MDA2's is Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

Already in the old texts the verb meant both “to put clothes on” and, more widely, “to cover”: Coresi's psalters of 1570 and 1577 have îmbrace at Psalm 70:14.^[10][3] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century use it for Slavonic verbs of clothing and arming.^[11] DER also records the rare old senses “to distribute, apportion” and “to turn over”.^[3] Tiktin quotes Neculce for the sense “to impose (a tax) on”.^[8] Modern technical senses include covering a pillow, a book or an icon.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – îmbrace in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 108:28), the first record.^[9]
• 1551–1553 – at Matthew 6:25, Tiktin's first record.^[8]
• 1570 – îmbrace in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 70:14).^[10]
• 1581 – in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[2]
• 1649 – îmbrac in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – îmbrăca in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 24:65).^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dress, put clothes on oneself or on someone; reflexive: to dress in a certain way.^[4][2][1]
2. To provide someone or oneself with the clothes they need.^[4]
3. To cover or wrap: to put a cover on a pillow or a book, to set an icon or a jewel in gold or silver.^[4]
4. (figurative) To disguise, hide the true look of something.^[4]

Word family

• îmbrăcăciune
• îmbrăcătură
• îmbrăcăminte
• îmbrăcat
• dezbrăca

Related words

• brace
• Latin brāca

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1183
3. ^ a b c d e f Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. îmbrăca
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 531
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4281
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1252
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. brācātus
8. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îmbrăca
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 108:28
10. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 70:14
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. îmbrăca
12. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. îmbrac
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 24:65